Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) on Monday asked the government to cut withholding taxes on a wide range of instruments and sought clarification on the qualified foreign investors (QFI) route as part of efforts to make India a more attractive destination.
In a meeting with economic affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram, they also sought simplification of KYC norms while giving their suggestions to improve inflows into the debt and equity markets. The meeting was attended by representatives from Sebi and RBI as well as finance ministry officials.
The QFI route permits a foreign individual, trust or association to invest in debt, equity and mutual funds. The government has allowed investments by QFIs from 45 nations.
Recently, the finance ministry had okayed two new windows of $5 billion each for long-term foreign investors in government securities and corporate bonds, raising the limit for FII in domestic debt instruments to $75 billion.